Matt Campbell assumed the lead at the start of Hour 6 in his No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, holding an 11-second advantage over Derani of Cadillac Racing. The gap extended to 15 seconds within the next half-hour.
After 40 minutes, Derani and Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R pitted, even with 50% energy remaining. Campbell pitted on the subsequent lap, and Josef Newgarden took over driving duties.
A caution ensued shortly after due to Nolan Siegel’s No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 stopping in Turn 7. After pit stops, Newgarden led the race, followed by Derani and van der Zande. Filipe Albuquerque surged from sixth to fourth on the restart in the No. 10 Acura ARX-06.
Derani relentlessly pursued Newgarden and ultimately overtook him 12 minutes into the seventh hour, securing the overall lead with an impressive outside pass in Turn 1. Kevin Estre’s No. 6 PPM 963 used pit strategy to climb the leaderboard but received a 10-second penalty. After serving the penalty, Nick Tandy took over driving duties.
Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R moved up to second. Disaster struck Albuquerque 15 minutes into Hour 8 as his Acura stopped in Turn 3, prompting the eighth caution. Derani maintained the lead after the restart, with Bourdais and Felipe Nasr in third.
Bourdais, who had taken the lead, went off in Turn 5 due to debris, forcing a pit stop. Derani reclaimed the lead with a 5-second advantage over Nasr. Pato O’Ward led the No. 2 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07, and Malthe Jakobsen (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) relinquished the top spot after a pit stop, handing off to Colin Braun.
During the caution for Siegel, Braun had a quick driver change, with George Kurtz taking over. Jakob Smeichowski (Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports) led ahead of AO Racing’s Alex Quinn.
Quinn quickly took the lead after the restart, building a 13-second lead over Smeichowski within 25 minutes into Hour 7. Through subsequent cautions and pit changes, O’Ward took over from Ben Keating.
In the GTD class, Paul Miller Racing’s Bryan Sellers led at the start of Hour 6, with Antonio Garcia’s No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette GT.3 R later climbing to the front, holding a 1.5-second lead over the No. 64 Mustang.
